Fascinating recollections on the start of sideline reportage from the guy who was there at its birth, Jim Lampley. The former Chapel Hillian recalls that ABC Sports held a proto-America Idol cattle call of sorts for the first sideline gig in 1974.

“The idea was to have a new person on a college football telecast, someone who’d provide program material that would help differentiate college football from pro football, illuminate the unique lore and social interaction of college football,” Lampley says.

After a great start at a Tenn.-UCLA game in Knoxville, Lampley says he quickly figured out what he was doing was “not vital.” And now as some nets are dropping the sideline reporter slot, Lampley does not seem the least bit surprised, noting that the “cosmetic” value of the reporters has decreased with the explosion of viewing choices, the Net among them, although Lampley does not mention that huge development.

Bonus Observation: ACC football is doomed. I can tell from this blog post from the now Charlotte-based Sporting News advising the league to forget about trying to compete with the SEC broadcast footprint, and instead spend the next decade or so hiring better, more exciting coaches. Ahem. The ACC might be a Big East-style afterthought in 10 years at the current pace. Oh, and two more words: David Cutcliffe.

The Left reflexively flashes back to 2000 and thinks those who question where Barack Obama was born are trying to invalidate the results of the last election. Perhaps some are. But I think the vast majority of those at least perplexed, as I am, by the Obama Administration’s handling of this matter view it more in terms of a continuation and extension of Bailout Nation’s extra-legal do-over mania. Just as folks who played by the rules as understood by everyone when they borrowed money — or bought health insurance for themselves and their family — are incensed at moves to re-write the rulebook, so too are they bemused, disgusted, outraged by the studied indifference to compliance with a Constitutional requirement for office.

Were Barack Obama were to come out and say, “Damn, I was born in Kenya afterall. Didn’t know that” I really would not have a problem with that. Go ahead and amend the Constitution on the fly, do some weird resign-appoint-resign tapdance, and boom, if in some magical 24 hrs. later Barack is back in the Oval Office, fine by me. Could not that fast happen, of course. The natural-born requirement is archaic as hell in the 21st century. But right now, it is the law.

Here we come to the rub of why the elites, increasingly of all political stripes, are profoundly offended by the birthers’ stubborn insistence that we adhere to the law as written. The elites think the requirement is archaic too, but are afraid to say so lest they further distance themselves from the broad middle of America. Republican elites in particular are caught between birther upset and a desire not to offend those whose political support they hope to win. Then there is the technocrat angle: Suppose Obama is not eligible, then what? What mechanism do we possibly have for dealing with this? Better to leave it alone, mock anyone who brings it up.

I sorta understand that sentiment, at least the don’t start something you cannot finish aspect. What I do not get, however, is the way this view has bled over into mainstream media coverage. You’d think an emotional he-said, they-say type story would be irresistible, especially with the document-digging angle. But no.

Here’s CNN honcho Jon Klein getting the facts of matter exactly wrong in ordering Lou Dobbs to stand down from the story. You’d think that given Dobbs is permitted to commit non-stop nitwittery on economic topics, a straight up fact-of-the-matter question like where the president was born would be gold. Again, no. The significance of this stance is what it portends.

I’ve said it before and am only growing more convinced of it by the day, America’s media elites will do everything in their power to make sure Barack Obama gets a second term. Substitute any issue of substance from the 2012 campaign into the current treatment of the birthers and the natural-born question to see how that will work.

Sister Toldjah alerts me to this gaffe by the tiny little Canadian solipsist regarding the Sarah Palin speech yesterday.

My expectations for sane political coverage and commentary have never been lower. To watch CNN’s Candy Crowley come on the air after Palin’s speech and say Palin never mentioned her replacement, Sean Parnell, when Palin practically led with him — and his family — was surreal.

Go ahead and watch for yourself at the 1:40 mark. Then resolve to never pay any attention to any of these people ever again.

This is a wild tale of the EPA trying to “update” official federal miles per gallon ratings — and probably blowing up untold Cash for Clunker subsidy deals in the process.

Seemed every car dealer in Charlotte was trying to cash in on the federally-backed trade-in program last week. But eligibility hinges on the EPA ratings of the vehicles involved, and that is precisely what the feds just changed.

Upshot, go back and double-check the numbers against the new, new EPA ratings to see if any deal you made or want to make will get the Uncle Sam handout. You are going to hear so much more about this in the coming weeks.